The method they suggest is the well-established PICO model used and taught almost universally by medical clinicians and medical librarians. PICO — which stands for Population, Intervention, Comparison and Outcome — can be adapted to most disciplines and can help students narrow down their question and populate key concepts.

The PICO model is currently used by librarians in our VIC170 course, along with worksheets to help students create the PICO model on their own.